Laser hair removal is a wonderful way to smooth your skin and stop that endless cycle of shaving with those painful waxing sessions. When you get your hair removed by laser here in West Melbourne, however, how soon can you expect to see results? You’ll see some results pretty quickly but should also exercise some patience. Here’s what you need to know.
How Soon Will You See Results After Laser Hair Removal?
Factors That Affect the Timeline
There’s a couple of factors that are going to make a difference. One of them is the color of your skin relative to the color of your hair. The ideal mix is light skin and dark hair, since the greater the contrast, the easier it is for the laser to find the hair follicles and do its job. But fortunately, just about anyone can get laser hair removal; it just might take a little bit longer if you have light skin and light hair or dark skin and dark hair.
Another important factor is how you respond. Unless you’ve had your hair removed by laser before, you might not be aware of how you’re going to respond, and at least part of this has to do with the thickness of the individual hairs. The area you’re having treatment matters, too, and for the same reason. We tend to have thicker hair in some areas than others. Your hormones and hair growth rate will be unique to you, as well.
What to Generally Expect
First Treatment
You’ll probably notice a fairly big change right after that initial treatment. The heat from the laser is going to disable or even completely destroy the hair follicles of all hair in the area that is actively growing. It’s important to understand that the hair on our bodies grows in cycles, and one of those cycles is basically a kind of dormancy. Your laser treatment will not be able to affect follicles in that dormant stage, which is why you need to have multiple treatments. At each treatment, more of your hair follicles will have cycled into the active growing phase and will become vulnerable to the laser.
Most people begin to see their hair shed and fall out within about a week of their first treatment. At first it may even seem to you that the hair is growing, but that’s just the hair that was in the follicle when it was killed slowly falling out, and no new hair will grow in its place. For some people, this process can take two weeks or even slightly more. You’ll definitely notice that the hair in the treated area has become thinner, and some spots will probably already be free of hair entirely.
Second Treatment
At your second treatment, you’ll get more of that hair that has gone into the active growth cycle. Once again, you’ll see results somewhere between a week and two weeks after your treatment, though some people may see results in just four or five days and others may take up to 20 days. It just depends on you and your personal physiology. Once again, you’ll notice the loss of more hair, more spots with no hair entirely, and you may start to notice now that what hair is left is thinner.
Third Treatment
The first two treatments make such an encouraging difference that you might consider skipping future sessions! Don’t give in to this temptation, though, as you’ll soon notice that your results don’t look as good. Keep pressing, and soon you’ll see the full results you’re looking for. Once again, you can expect results somewhere between a week and two weeks from treatment, and now your results will be really obvious.
Future Treatments
The number of future treatments you need is going to depend on what area you’re having treated and how you’re reacting to the laser. We will give you a personalized schedule as soon as we see the effective the laser is having. In between your sessions, you’re always welcome to shave any hair you find growing in the treatment area. You don’t want to use any other hair removal methods during this time, however. Depilatory creams shouldn’t be used because they will irritate your lasered skin. And plucking or waxing will actually remove the hair entirely. If you remove the hair entirely, you have nothing for the laser to “grab onto” to send heat down into the follicle and destroy it.
In most cases, you’ll get the best results if you have at least six treatments, and you may want a few more depending on the area and how stubborn your hair is. Remember, though, that once you get the hair follicles disabled or even destroyed by the laser, they can’t grow hair back easily. Most won’t grow hair again at all, and if they ever do, it will be thinner than before.
That said, no one can guarantee absolutely permanent hair removal in the sense that the hair will never come back, even years later. That is because our hair growth is tied so tightly to our hormones. Changes in your hormones can cause new hair growth, even in places where you never had hair before. Certain medical conditions can do so, as well.
FAQ About Laser Treatment
Does It Hurt?
Early types of hair removal of this nature, particularly IPL and the early lasers, were renowned for being painful. Thankfully, lasers have come a very long way since then, and the process is much more comfortable. You may feel a very light snapping sensation, but today’s lasers can be programmed to avoid burning the skin while they target the hair and even come with cooling technology for extra comfort. If you’re concerned about this, talk to us, and we can explain to you all the ways that we can make treatment comfortable for you.
How Exactly Does It Work?
The energy from the laser is targeted towards the pigment in your hair. It ignores things around it (like your skin) and sends that beam of energy down the hair, where it changes to heat that destroys the follicle the hair is growing in. Because the laser is calibrated for a certain pigment, the darker the hair, the easier the laser can find it. And again, this is why it’s so important to only shave before your first treatment and during your treatments. Shaving leaves a little bit of hair still in the follicle for the laser to “find.”
How Much Hair Is Removed in Each Session?
Because of the way your hair cycles, and because each person’s cycle is different, you can expect somewhere between a 10% and 25% reduction of hair each time you have a session. Imagine that you have 1,000 hairs in the area you’re treating. After the first session, 25% are gone, and you now have 750. That’s a noticeable reduction, but there’s still plenty of hair to go. Your next session gets another 25%, so now you have 562 hairs. The next session gets another 25%, so now you have 421, and so on. Understanding this makes it clear why multiple sessions are needed to get those last ones!
For more on hair removal and how we can help you achieve smooth, hair-free skin, contact The Refinery Medspa & Wellness and Skin & Body by The Refinery by using our simple online form. Alternatively, you can also call us at 321-341-3321 to reach us in West Melbourne, FL, or call us at 321-428-3004 to reach us in Indian Harbour Beach, FL. Let’s talk about your goals and needs, take a look at your skin, and find the right treatments to improve your health while getting you the radiant look you’re searching for. Don’t forget to follow us on social media for our latest deals and specials & events!
